Movie Night: Red Riding Hood

Happy Halloween!  

This movie night is inspired by our Halloween costumes.  My husband and I usually don't dress up, but this year we got a wild hair and joined the kids. We all play a role in our first true family theme, which is Little Red Riding Hood. 

I thought this made such a cute theme.  I made a point to only use things we had on hand.  The red gingham tablecloth is round and normally goes on our outdoor table, so I did the old scrunch trick.  The round tree slices (not sure what to call them!) are from my daughter's first birthday party.  The little basket is part of her costume.

The red plates are from my wedding registry and the white plates are part of some catering-type dishes I have from World Market.  I ordered this pretty pop-up book to commemoriate our costumes and frankly to brush up on the story.  Ha!

You have to love that when I asked my husband if he had a small ax I could use for the table he offered me three choices.  He also dug into the Christmas decorations for me to get the little tree.

The wolf is my kids' from Great Wolf Lodge.

Ok let's talk about the movie itself.  I honestly didn't know if such a movie existed.  A search on Amazon gave me a few options, each with reviews that said, "Not for kids!"  I figure I'm probably not any more lenient than a random Amazon reviewer.  Who knows.  So I chose this version from 1988.  Y'all it was OLD and WEIRD.  Oh and it's a musical.  Plus Craig T. Nelson plays his own evil twin.  So there's that.

The Big Bad Wolf is more like the Big Bad German Shepherd.  It was certainly not a cinematic masterpiece, but we are happy to expose our kids to things that are old-fashioned and not the latest and greatest.  To me it beats the "not for kids!" version any day.  We enjoyed it for what it was.

For dinner I pulled out one of my old tried-and-true Halloween tricks:  a Jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's.  This says "I'm a fun mom" when really you are just a tired mom.  I added a salad.

Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe's.  TJ's is the secret to my success.

I loved this movie night and my family did too.

I hope you enjoy lots of treats and maybe even a few tricks today!

Movie Night: Hotel Transylvania

It's movie night and we are checking into the Hotel Transylvania!  We always get a kick out of this one and you can read about its content here.  For the table you'll see I rounded up Halloween decorations from around the house.

The dessert plates are a Homegoods find and I think they are fun and whimsical.

I was determined to make the green blob guy from the movie out of jello.

After looking around my kitchen for something to use my husband came up with a good plan.  He picked up these collapsible camping cups at Walmart and they were perfect. 

I filled them with lime jello, added candy eyes, and the result got the intended amount of delight and laughter from my kids.  They loved these!

We had brisket tacos for dinner.  For dessert I spent the week thinking grand thoughts and pinning all kinds of creative ideas.  Then I realized that between soccer practice, prepping for the cousin party, and my unfortunate lacking of a personal chef (ha) I wasn't sure who I thought would be making those things.  So, I grabbed red velvet cupcakes from the grocery and added a gummy eyeball to each.  So easy and everyone laughed and was grossed out and enjoyed them just the same.

It really only takes one or two creative touches to make a movie night extra special.  Hotel Transylvania would be a perfect one to pop in for your fam this weekend!

Movie Night: Spookley the Square Pumpkin

This movie is just too cute.  It suitable for any age and it has a great message.  Around here, we love Spookley the Square Pumpkin!

For the table I ordered a plush Spookley from trusty old Amazon.  The ceramic square pumpkins are from Hobby Lobby.  Before and after movie night they've been mixed in with the other Halloween decor around the house and I love them.  I've had the little glass candy corn table scatters forever.  I'm pretty sure I called ON THE PHONE and gave someone a CATALOG ORDER NUMBER.  I might has well have brought them west with me on a covered wagon.

The tablecloth is one I've had for years from Pottery Barn.

I also had the orange square plates and I used a simple green paper napkin for the "stem."

I simply folded it lengthwise twice and tucked under the plates.

I made fun little appetizers from a photo I saw on Pinterest.

I used peanut butter sandwich crackers, a green Airhead, black icing for the smiles, and white icing to attach the "stems" and candy eyes.   A "stickier" icing probably would have worked better, but it was what I had on hand.

I count any day I break out the candy eyes as a success!

These little Spookleys look so cute and happy!  They are not perfect but you guys... neither was Spookley and he taught us THAT'S OK.

Obviously I'm not a very skilled piper.  Which makes me think of this...

Oh, I crack myself up.

Dinner was a simple one but still went with the pumpkin theme.  This pasta from Trader Joe's is so pretty.

I added TJ's Autumnal Harvest sauce, sausage, a little Parmesan.  I served it with a quick Caesar salad and bread.

Trader Joe's also made our dessert!  

I'll leave you with a little bonus tip since this movie is great for preschoolers.  If your kiddos are at an age where it's hard for you to get dinner on the table because they are so "busy"... you can often find free coloring sheets related to the movie to print off on Pinterest or just by googling it.  I did this a lot when my kids were smaller (with various movie nights) and it helps keep them busy while you prep and gets them excited for the movie.

If you haven't seen this one yet, you can catch it on The Disney Channel this time of year.  Dare to be square!